Pre-Season Planting
There’s a lot of stuff going in the ground. Last week on the “root crop day” I planted beets, carrots, radishes and onion sets again. On the 8th (above ground day) I planted spinach, arugula, mesclun mix, kale, romaine, mustard and turnips. My grapevines and asparagus crowns came in yesterday and today (the 12th) is “transplant day” so in the ground they go. I dug humongous holes for the grapevines yesterday and a long trench for the asparagus. Today it is rainy and miserable; but this is the last day of February for transplanting.
The 8th was also a transplant day and I transplanted a few things in the greenhouse. Here’s a little update on the planting mediums. I planted in soil in cups, jiffy pots and rockwool. The rockwool got the best germination. The soil in cups grows best. I also planted some leftover cabbage seeds in an old aluminum pie plate. That was fantastic. We learn from experience. I don’t expect to start many more seeds this year. I want to try egg cartons next. I may start something just for the heck of it to see how they work.
Spinach and onion sets from an earlier planting are up. My three bins of compost turned into 2 ¾ when I turned it Sunday. I need some stuff to put in the grapevine holes; but the compost isn’t ready. I will buy some earthworm castings and mix that and phosphate rock and lime in with the dirt that came from the holes. I will just mix the earthworm casting for the asparagus. The dirt at the bottom of the grapevine holes tested at between 5.9 and 6.3 for ph which is the very lower limit for grapes. Hopefully the lime will bring it up a little.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Let There Be Light
Let There be Light
In the last blog you got to hear my complaints about legginess. Today I will share what I discovered. I went to the greatest source of gardening wisdom I have found. That is Mr. Blackely (I hope I spelled that right) at Renfrow’s Store. The day was gorgeous. The weather was almost balmy. The folks at the store were displaying cabbage and lettuce plants and seed potatoes outside. I went in the wonderful old store and shared my sorrows with Mr. Blackely. He said they ( the plants) need more light.
He explained to me that even in a greenhouse, the day length is too short for many plants. He showed me how to place the light for best results. It needs to be very close to the plants. His was about 4” to 6” above the tops of the plants. I headed back to home depot, where I bought a little fluorescent light and a large surge protector. I did not really need the surge protector. I just needed more sockets.
In the late afternoon, I worked in the greenhouse. I decided the beautiful day was a great time to clean thing up. I gave all the plants a little field trip outside and I cleaned up the greenhouse. Not all of the plants seemed to need extra light; and I only bought 1 lamp so I put that one lamp in the darkest space in the greenhouse and put the leggiest plants under the lamp. I’ll give you a progress report on how well that works. Incidentally the plants that seemed to be suffering most were the members of the cole family and the mint family.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
In the last blog you got to hear my complaints about legginess. Today I will share what I discovered. I went to the greatest source of gardening wisdom I have found. That is Mr. Blackely (I hope I spelled that right) at Renfrow’s Store. The day was gorgeous. The weather was almost balmy. The folks at the store were displaying cabbage and lettuce plants and seed potatoes outside. I went in the wonderful old store and shared my sorrows with Mr. Blackely. He said they ( the plants) need more light.
He explained to me that even in a greenhouse, the day length is too short for many plants. He showed me how to place the light for best results. It needs to be very close to the plants. His was about 4” to 6” above the tops of the plants. I headed back to home depot, where I bought a little fluorescent light and a large surge protector. I did not really need the surge protector. I just needed more sockets.
In the late afternoon, I worked in the greenhouse. I decided the beautiful day was a great time to clean thing up. I gave all the plants a little field trip outside and I cleaned up the greenhouse. Not all of the plants seemed to need extra light; and I only bought 1 lamp so I put that one lamp in the darkest space in the greenhouse and put the leggiest plants under the lamp. I’ll give you a progress report on how well that works. Incidentally the plants that seemed to be suffering most were the members of the cole family and the mint family.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Early Indications
Early Indications
I used three different planting mediums to start over 1000 plants. I used dirt in cups, Jiffy Pellets and rockwool. Everything did pretty well. The cups were the most work. The Jiffy Pellets and rockwool were about the same. The germination rate between the cups with dirt and the Jiffy Pellets were about the same. (around 80%). The rockwool is almost 100%. Some stuff that I have just planted in rockwool has not come up yet; so a complete analysis is still premature. One problem I am having with all of the mediums is legginess. I am hoping transplanting will fix that.
In the garden, I planted more beets, carrots, radishes onions and potatoes. The only thing growing right now is Arugula and Onions. I did make a new ph map of the garden. The row for potatoes had dropped to 5 after I applied the sulfur. It has bounced back to 6.5. I don’t know if that is caused by the rain or what. I have not put any other amendment on the soil.
On February 1, I started a new compost pile for new compost. The old compost is being isolated so that it will be ready for planting when it is needed. I turned all of the compost Saturday and 4 bins became 3 bins. Most of the leaves and eggshells can still be identified; but most of the other things have become indistinguishable grains. By the time I plant, there will only be one bin.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
I used three different planting mediums to start over 1000 plants. I used dirt in cups, Jiffy Pellets and rockwool. Everything did pretty well. The cups were the most work. The Jiffy Pellets and rockwool were about the same. The germination rate between the cups with dirt and the Jiffy Pellets were about the same. (around 80%). The rockwool is almost 100%. Some stuff that I have just planted in rockwool has not come up yet; so a complete analysis is still premature. One problem I am having with all of the mediums is legginess. I am hoping transplanting will fix that.
In the garden, I planted more beets, carrots, radishes onions and potatoes. The only thing growing right now is Arugula and Onions. I did make a new ph map of the garden. The row for potatoes had dropped to 5 after I applied the sulfur. It has bounced back to 6.5. I don’t know if that is caused by the rain or what. I have not put any other amendment on the soil.
On February 1, I started a new compost pile for new compost. The old compost is being isolated so that it will be ready for planting when it is needed. I turned all of the compost Saturday and 4 bins became 3 bins. Most of the leaves and eggshells can still be identified; but most of the other things have become indistinguishable grains. By the time I plant, there will only be one bin.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
